1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a machine for the automatic sorting of objects, more particularly designed for treating objects of various shapes and sizes in order to group said objects at specific places, for example to route them subsequently to a corresponding destination or to another machine.
2. Discussion of Background Material
In most cases the objects are identified by bar codes, magnetic codes or markings that can be read by a character recognition system or by other like means. The information is processed by a computer which assigns to the object a destination corresponding to an aforementioned specific place. For example, a machine of this kind may be used to sort packets of photographs in a development laboratory in order to group packets for dispatch to different destinations. It can also be used in pharmaceutical laboratories and in mailing centers handling large quantities of mail, newspapers and packets. Conventionally, a machine of this kind moves the objects on conveyor belts with outlets involving lateral deviation or traps opening on the passage of the objects.
For example, known machines in photograph development centers are able to transport only thin identical standardized packets. These objects are inserted into the machine by allowing the objects to drop onto a conveyor.